Wal-Mart Begins Cross-Country Walk
Wal-Mart Stores and pedometer maker Sportline step off tomorrow with a 14-week tour of 12 Americans walking from New York to California.
The effort, called Sportline Steps Across America, extends Wal-Mart’s new “Every Day Well-Being” umbrella marketing program. A slate of 17 fitness-related brands have signed on as marketing partners, and will participate in Every Day Well-Being Expos at 150 stores and another 150 “along-the-road” sites where the walking team stops. Radio station tie-ins in 15 markets will drive additional traffic to the tented events.
In-store events on April 29 and May 6 will have a total of 2,000 stores host sampling and demos for sponsoring brands. Wal-Mart will distribute 500,000 fitness guides with ads for sponsoring brands, which also get mentions in spots airing on Wal-Mart TV this week and in June. The brands get display support throughout the store all during the 14-week campaign, Wal-Mart’s longest promotion window to date.
“This is a clean call to action to people to get up, get moving and into healthier lifestyle,” said Steve Buxbaum, senior VP for CoActive Marketing Group, which handles the campaign for Sportline and Wal-Mart.
Title sponsor Sportline and New York-based CoActive brought the idea to Wal-Mart, then signed additional sponsors: presenting sponsor TracFone Prepaid Wireless, as well as 7-Up, Centrum, Coppertone, IAMS, Image Fitness, Jif/Smucker’s, Kodak, Os-Cal, PayDay PRO, Weight Watcher’s Smart Ones, Wisk, Advil, Alavert, Jennie-O Turkey Store, Nestle’s Carnation Instant Breakfast and Otis Spunkmeyer. PromoWorks, Schaumburg, IL, handles the in-store events. CoActive also signed figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi who acts as spokesperson for the campaign; she appears at tomorrow’s launch, and in campaign materials.
The 12 “National Walkers” will trade off trekking in teams of two through 11 states, using a special Sportline pedometer to tally the 3,100 miles. A tour bus carries team members when they’re not walking, and draws attention at Well-Being Expo events. Consumers can follow their progress at Stepsacross.com, which also has profiles and blogs for each walker. Iams is sponsoring a dog that walks with the team.
The promotion ties to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports as part of the council’s 50th anniversary celebration this summer. Wal-Mart’s tour piggybacks the long-running President’s Challenge with a “Steps Across America President’s Challenge” overlay for consumers. Participants register online, then track their own physical activity to earn rewards, including a President’s Council patch and a certificate signed by the President.
CoActive and sister shop U.S. Concepts ran ads to recruit 300 candidates for the walking team, then hired 12 that represent a broad demographic and geographic mix. “It’s a cool, diverse bunch of people,” Buxbaum said. “We made sure we had a nice range of people so every consumer could find someone they relate to.”
New York-based U.S. Concepts handles the tour and parking lot events; CoActive’s Digital Intelligence Group handles the Web site. Edelman, New York, handles p.r., including a kick-off rally tomorrow at Chelsea Pier. CoActive retains rights to the Steps Across America name.
This is Sportline’s biggest-ever marketing push. “Research shows that people who wear a pedometer walk nearly 2,000 more steps per day than fitness walkers who do not,” said Sportline President Brian Anderson in a statement. “This program can inspire thousands of people to get out and walk as part of their everyday fitness regime.”
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